Soul Brothers
by SepticAbzies
Summary: The fight may be over, for now, but Sora needs to know if what Vanitas revealed to them is true. He needs to know if there really is a boy named Ventus inside his heart. / KHIII AU-ish, Directly After Monstropolis


A/N: My first KH fic! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Disney in any way, shape, or form!_

!~~~K~I~N~G~D~O~M~~H~E~A~R~T~S~~~!

**Soul Brothers**

"_**We were just two broken souls trying to fix one another…Somehow I ended up with a piece of you and you me." –**_** Evy Michaels**

Monstropolis may have no longer needed their help, but Vanitas' attack was still fresh in Sora's mind.

"_The half of me that sleeps on… inside your heart…"_

"_Vanitas!"_

The voice that had spoken with him was not his own. It was not Donald's or Goofy's.

Sora only had to assume that it was Ventus. Which meant…

_No, no, no, no, no!_ He couldn't accept it. He wouldn't. Not yet, at least.

But he didn't know how to make sure. He didn't know how to check whether or not it was true.

Sora knew he was being irrational. After all, when Vanitas had activated his _'black magic'_, he felt Ventus' heart being forcefully drawn out of his own. _Against his will._ And by _god_ did it hurt.

Sora had gotten sick before, and injured, but he had learned to endure it, mainly because Donald always used the last bit of his magic on a Thundaga spell instead of healing _him_.

But this one hurt the most. It was almost as though Vanitas was forcing his soul out and not Ventus'.

_Almost as though he and Ventus were the same person._

Sora had tried to voice this to Donald and Goofy, but they had shrugged it off as a side-effect of Vanitas' darkness attacking him.

_It wasn't._ It was a whole lot deeper than that.

Because Sora could very vaguely remember sharing half of his heart with someone when he was practically a baby. It wasn't much to go on, but he remembered healing someone else's heart by sharing his own with them.

Someone who was hurting, broken, so traumatized by what had happened to them that they had forgotten _their own name_.

Someone who would have _died_ if Sora hadn't stepped in when he did.

And Sora had a feeling that this _someone_ was actually _Ventus_.

"_The king told us about this! Ventus wasn't able to defeat Vanitas! They struck each other down, and then the King said that Ventus' heart never returned to him!" _He remembered Goofy saying.

But that was when Sora was only four. He wanted to know what had happened to Ventus four years prior.

Seriously! What happened to Ventus to prompt the whole thing with Vanitas in the first place?

Sora was immediately taken back when he realized he was feeling an emotion that wasn't his.

_Guilt._ And a _lot_ of it.

He was freaking out. But he shook it off and decided to take the plunge.

"H-Hello?" Sora asked, his voice shaky, not sure what he was so afraid of. _Perhaps the fact that he'd been housing another person's heart within his own since he was four and had forgotten about it?_

'_**I'm sorry,'**_ came a voice from within his heart.

_Ventus._

Sora closed his eyes, fully intent on listening to him. "Sorry? For what?"

'_**Everything,'**_ Ventus answered, his voice sad and solemn. _**'It's my fault you were targeted by Vanitas.'**_

"Don't worry about it," Sora replied, putting on a smile, even though Ventus probably couldn't see. "It's not a big deal."

'_**It is a **__huge__** deal,'**_ Ventus calmly, but shakily shot back. _**'Please, Sora, take my advice. Do not take Vanitas for granted. He will **__kill__** you if it means me and him can merge again.'**_

"Merge?" Sora asked. Vanitas had mentioned the same thing, wanting Ventus' heart to join with his. "What's the connection between the two of you anyways?"

'_**Vanitas and I…'**_ Ventus paused. Sora sensed him being unsure of whether or not to reveal to Sora the truth._**'As Vanitas would say, we're two halves of a whole idiot.'**_

"W-What?" Sora was surprised, yeah, but not really shocked beyond belief. He knew there was a connection between the two, but he never really figured out what it was. "You and Vanitas are the same person?"

'_**So to speak,'**_ Ventus quietly replied, Sora sensing fear from him. Fear and sadness, both caused by trying to anticipate Sora's ultimate reaction to all of this._** 'He's my darkness personified.' **_

"Is that what happened?"

'_**Huh?'**_ Ventus was confused, but still afraid of what Sora would do. Kick him out or help him? Or sell him out to Vanitas?

"The person I helped when I was just a baby. That was you," Sora explained, calmly, trying to ease Ventus' fears. "I barely remember that, but the feeling of wanting to help someone so broken, they couldn't remember anything about what had happened to them, was so strong, the memory of it still remains to this day."

It was a sick, twisted kind of funny that Ventus was always sad for some reason whenever the two talked to each other.

First, it was trauma. Then, it was complete sorrow. And just now, it was guilt.

'_**Oh,'**_ Ventus replied, quiet, before softly replying, _**'Yeah. That was me.'**_

"What happened to you? What was so traumatic that you forgot everything about yourself?" Sora asked, fear of dreaming of the same thing happening to him, whatever it was.

'_**It's a…long story.'**_

"It's gonna be a while before we're at the next world. Go ahead, we have time," Sora gently urged him to speak.

'_**Forgive me if I blank out sometimes,' **_Ventus said. _**'Some of those memories are still so painful for me.'**_

"It's alright." Sora didn't smile, but he was gentle, understanding, ready and willing to listen to every bit of it.

'_**Xehanort…once took me in as his apprentice,'**_ Ventus finally started telling his story, _**'for the sole purpose of unleashing the darkness within myself to forge the X-Blade. But I couldn't do it, because I was…too much of a coward. So Xehanort saw it fit to extract my darkness himself…leading to the birth of Vanitas.'**_

"But what was so traumatic about it?" Sora asked, not sure where the trauma occurred.

'_**Sora, having your heart broken into pieces,'**_ Ventus sounded like he was crying, Sora realized with a sudden jolt, _**'causes severe trauma to the heart itself. It rarely happens, but when it does, the one whose heart was broken usually never recovers from it. It's most common for someone to outright die the moment it happens. It's unusual for someone to survive and stay in a coma while they recover, but very rarely do they actually come back from it completely. That's where you come in, Sora, and that's what I mean by you giving me a **__'second chance'__**.'**_

Sora was quiet, letting all of that sink in.

No wonder Ventus was sad all the time. He'd been missing a big piece of his heart since Sora was a baby.

_Twelve years._

Pain and suffering caused by Xehanort. _Like that bastard didn't have enough sins to add to the list of dirt they had against him._

All of that still wasn't accounting what had happened to Ventus' _family_. The family that _Sora_ had allowed him to meet.

Master _Eraqus_, who was murdered by Terra, by accident, and Xehanort, on purpose.

_Terra_, who had fallen to darkness because he had failed to protect Ventus and Aqua.

And Master _Aqua_, who had sacrificed herself to the Realm of Darkness so that Terra could live.

All had issues that Xehanort was more than willing to exploit just to ensure his victory with the X-Blade.

Ventus' life was so much more tragic than Sora's would ever be. And Sora felt an extreme bout of sympathy for Ventus.

"I know you're worried I'm going to throw you out, Ventus," Sora finally spoke. "Don't worry. I have no intention of doing that. None of this is your fault. It's all Xehanort's. Okay? So repeat after me. _'I am not at fault here'_."

'_**I am…not at fault here.'**_

"Good, now repeat that to yourself until you actually believe it." He heard Ventus lightly chuckle, allowing Sora to let slip a little smile. "And don't worry. Riku and King Mickey are currently on their way to rescue Aqua right now."

'_**W-What?'**_

"Don't worry," Sora repeated. "And Master Yen Sid is training Lea and Kairi so that they're strong enough to bring Terra back."

'_**How did all of this jumpstart?'**_ Now, it was Ventus' turn to ask questions.

"When I was having my nightmare, you activated your armor to protect my heart. To Master Yen Sid and King Mickey, that was a sign that you were awake. So, they decided it was time to act."

There it was. Sora felt it. It was small, but it was enough to let happy tears start falling from his eyes.

_Hope._

Ventus was finally feeling a joyful emotion. Something other than sadness.

They couldn't save Master Eraqus, but that didn't mean that Terra and Aqua were beyond saving. Ventus too.

Sora heard Ventus sniff away some of his own tears of joy._** 'Thank you, Sora. Thank you.'**_

"Don't mention it. You deserve to be happy, Ventus. Don't ever forget that."

Sora felt Ventus' happiness grow, but his own fade.

He had been housing for Ventus for twelve years, and who knows how long things would stay that way? Was Ventus comfortable? Was he lonely? Did he feel trapped?

'_**What's wrong, Sora?'**_ Apparently, Ventus could feel Sora's emotions too.

"Do you…feel…trapped where you are?" Sora shakily asked. "Is my heart really a prison?"

'_**Not at all,' **_Ventus replied, at just the right pace that Sora felt comforted by. Not too fast, as it seemed too hasty. Not too slow, as it seemed like Ventus was taking too long to think.

Ventus knew how to talk to people.

'_**Your heartscape takes the form of the places and people you hold close to your heart,'**_ Ventus explained. _**'Yours is of the Destiny Islands, which not only has beautiful sunsets, but a lot of stars in the sky and a tree with star-shaped fruit that reminds me of my friends. Besides, I'm not really alone. Your nobody, Roxas, and I talk quiet often, and there's a girl here who calls herself Xion.'**_

"But–!"

'_**You saved my life, Sora. Twice,'**_ Ventus quickly cut him off. _**'Xion was never supposed to exist, and Roxas was doomed to fade back into darkness, but you managed to prevent all three of us from fading away. Your heart is almost as bright as your girlfriend Kairi's.'**_ Sora blushed, but chose not to correct Ventus upon calling Kairi his girlfriend. _**'Your light inspires others to keep striving forward, not just me, or Roxas, or Xion, but everyone you meet on your journey throughout the worlds. Your greatest strength is not your keyblade, Sora. It's your heart. Please, don't lose that.'**_

"_Never change, Sora."_

Oh. So that's what Kairi meant.

Sora smiled. "Thanks, Ventus. For everything."

'_**My friends call me Ven.'**_ Sora could sense a smile on Ventus' – no, Ven's – face.

"Right," Sora corrected himself. "Thanks for everything, Ven."

'_**I wish we could talk more,'**_ Ven replied. _**'But it seems like Donald and Goofy are trying to get your attention.'**_

"Oh, yeah," Sora said. "They must be worried about me. I better go tell them everything's fine. And don't worry. We will talk later. When I'm asleep."

Ven chuckled. _**'I'll see you then, Sora.'**_

Sora opened his eyes to find himself still on the Gummi Ship, with Donald and Goofy waving their hands in front of his face, worry clearly etched on their faces.

"You okay there, Sora?" Donald asked. "We're almost at the next world."

"Yeah, you blanked out on us for a while there," Goofy followed.

Ventus didn't need to pay him back anymore. Sora had healed Ven's hard quiet literally, while Ven had healed his in a figurative sense.

The two may be in their own separate bodies in the future, but Sora had a feeling the two would always be connected through their hearts.

Sora sent them a genuine smile. "Don't worry. I'm fine. Just talking to Ven."

_Almost like soulmates._

!~~~K~I~N~G~D~O~M~~H~E~A~R~T~S~~~!

A/N: Or Soul Brothers, hence the title. I hope you all enjoyed this one. I had a ton of fun writing it. The Sora/Ventus fluff in this one can be taken as either platonic or romantic. I don't mind either way. I just wish these two had more interactions.

And yes, I consider this an AU of sorts.


End file.
